Earlier this week, EFF learned that a "Broadcast Flag"
amendment might slip past legislative gates as part of
an appropriations bill. We quickly sent out an action alert
to EFF supporters in states with senators on the Senate
Appropriations Committee, warning that within 48
hours, we could see a new law that would give Hollywood
permanent veto power over how we use over-the-air
digital television and force American innovators to beg
the government for permission before adding new features
to TV.

It's easy to see how this could happen. Despite
the courts striking down the flag and powerful opposition
in the Internet community, in many circles it's still
considered "non-controversial."

But that was Monday evening.

Within the space of a few hours, the action alert hit
the Internet. And you slammed Congress.

By 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the 27 members of the Senate
Appropriations Committee received *more than 11,000
emails and faxes* from EFF supporters. That's nearly
500 faxes an hour. Dianne Feinstein alone received
more than 2,600 messages in her inbox. Kay Hutchison,
the senior senator for Texas, received 1,441 letters.

And these are just the numbers EFF has. We don't track
telephone calls. But we do know that many of you listened
when we joined Public Knowledge in urging you to call your
senators directly. If you tried to call and the line was
engaged, it was likely occupied by someone else griping
about the same amendment. Staffers report that they are
"swamped."

Today, the phone calls, email messages, and faxes continue
to flood in. This is a mass protest even without voices
from many of the more populous states, which don't have
senators on the committee.

Suffice it to say that you don't get that kind of reaction
except for *very* controversial bills. You did it. You
got the attention of every senator on the Appropriations
Committee.

And so far, it's working. No one proposed a Broadcast Flag
amendment in the sub-committee on Tuesday. The next
opportunity will be Thursday at 2 p.m. By then, everyone
on the committee will have been briefed by their besieged
staffers. And in the briefings will be words to the
effect that this is an issue with "a great deal of voter
concern."

For these senators, the Broadcast Flag now comes with its
own red flag.

It's not over yet. The entertainment industry lobbyists
won't give up easily, and there are plenty of sneaky tricks
left to pull.

But by acting now, you've given your legislator a reason to
decline Hollywood's advances. You may even have given a
few the back-up necessary to *keep* declining.

We challenge you to keep the momentum going. Tell your
friends and family about the Broadcast Flag, and forward the
URL below. You know can make a difference - you already
have.

Internet Entrepreneur Joe Kraus Joins EFF Board

Founder of DigitalConsumer.org Is a Perfect Fit for Digital
Liberties Organization

San Francisco, CA - This week, EFF welcomed the newest
member of its executive board, Internet entrepreneur
Joe Kraus. The founder of DigitalConsumer.org, a
grassroots organization devoted to helping consumers
get fair use access to digital media, Kraus has more than
a decade of experience working on Internet-related
ventures. He was a founder of Excite.com in the early
1990s, and he is currently the CEO of JotSpot, a maker
of wiki-based applications. He is also an angel investor
who works with early-stage technology companies.

"I think the work of EFF is critical to a thriving and
innovative online world where people are free to create
new technologies, content, and communities," said Kraus.
"Without the EFF, the Internet would be a smaller, darker
place."

EFF Executive Director Shari Steele said, "We're thrilled
to have Joe on our board, and we look forward to getting
his input into current and future EFF projects."

Other members of EFF's executive board include Brad
Templeton, John Gilmore, Pam Samuelson, Lawrence
Lessig, John Perry Barlow, Brewster Kahle, and Dave
Farber.

Upholding the Legality of Reverse Engineering

Judges Weigh Issues in Eighth Circuit Videogame Case

St. Louis, MO - Judges in the Eighth Circuit Court of
Appeals heard oral arguments this week in Blizzard v.
BnetD, a case that pits a large videogame corporation
against three game-loving software developers.

Blizzard sued the developers because they created an
open-source program called BnetD, which lets people
play popular Blizzard titles like "Warcraft" with
other gamers online. Blizzard maintains its own game
server, Battle.net, and claims that the developers
violated its end user license agreements (EULAs)
and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) when
they reverse-engineered a protocol used in Battle.net
to create their own program.

EFF is representing the BnetD programmers to fight
for the right to reverse-engineer and build
alternative platforms for legitimately purchased
software. Arguing on the programmers' behalf was
EFF co-counsel Paul Grewal of Day Casebeer Madrid
& Batchelder, assisted by EFF Staff Attorney Jason
Schultz.

"The judges were struggling with the right questions,"
said Schultz. "They're trying to balance copyright
interests with the right to reverse engineer. They
clearly recognized the public interest in reverse
engineering, but they admitted this would be a hard
case to decide."

Congress expressly recognized the importance of reverse
engineering when it created an exception to the DMCA
for this activity. Whether it's allowing gamers to
choose a better server for Internet play, or allowing
a printer owner to purchase from a range of printer
cartridge replacements, reverse engineering is a
critical part of innovation in a world where more
and more devices need to talk to each other in order
to operate correctly.

EFF Joins Battle to Protect the Right to Read Anonymously,
Publishers' Rights

EFF has joined eight other civil liberties and consumer
rights organizations, including Public Citizen and
the ACLU of Maryland, in a legal battle to protect the
anonymity of subscribers to an online financial newsletter.
In the case, Forensic Advisors v. Matrixx Initiatives, Inc.,
the pharmaceutical company Matrixx is attempting to force
the publisher of the newsletter to divulge the subscriber
list because, for reasons that it hasn't adequately
explained, the company believes that it will help
identify several "John Does" who allegedly defamed
Matrixx and its products on Internet message boards.
Matrixx sells a nasal decongestant that members of the
news media and the general public have alleged causes
permanent loss of the sense of smell.

In a joint friend-of-the-court brief, EFF argues that the
Maryland news media privilege prevents disclosure of
sources and information collected in the course of
reporting, and that the First Amendment right to read
anonymously bars disclosure of a list of readers and
subscribers.

"Anonymity has a long and celebrated history in the United
States, beginning with the pseudonymous advocates of the
United States Constitution," the brief states. "People
choose to maintain anonymity regarding what they read for
many reasons, including forestalling assumptions about
their beliefs and associations, maintaining privacy,
and avoiding harassment, threats, frivolous litigation,
or social stigma."

EFF Seeks Experienced, Dynamic Membership Coordinator

EFF is searching for a dynamic Membership Coordinator (MC)
with a successful track record. The Membership Coordinator
reports to the Director of Development and is a key
component of EFF's fundraising activities. The MC is
responsible for managing contact with EFF's members,
helping to develop strategies to grow the membership,
donor and membership databases; processing donations,
thank-you letters and renewal notices; managing the
donation pages of the website; and responding to any
issues members may have. The MC also manages EFF's online
shop, including order fulfillment. The MC also attends a
number of commercial conferences each year, managing
the EFF booth presence and speaking informally with
conference attendees.

The position requires enthusiasm and a flexible, can-do
attitude with a strong affinity for quality customer
service. Having the initiative to sniff out and solve
problems independently is essential, as is the dedication
to perform daily tasks with minimal oversight. The
position offers the opportunity to learn about all
aspects of nonprofit fundraising, as well as digital
civil liberties issues, in a hard-working, fun office
environment.

Seven Nights 'til Copynight
Putting the "pub" into public domain, the monthly
copyfighters' meet-up is next Tuesday, in Chicago, San
Francisco, Houston, New York, Nashville, and elsewhere
all across the nation:http://www.copynight.org/

Survey Says: If You Understood the Question, You Probably
Want Legal Music-Sharing
The more people use technology, the more they want
filesharing protected, concludes a Digital Life
America survey:http://p2pnet.net/story/5275

After Dealing with Cake Infringers, Disney Goes After
Pinata Makers
Evidently, film industry lawyers are running through
checklist of "fun things our loyal customers do that
we can spoil":http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2005/06/20

FTC Says Law Requiring "ADV:" in Spam Subject Lines
Won't Help
Maybe if they demanded the messages all say "Hey sex1y
viagr1 d3alz:," they would get more take-up:http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/06/adv1.htm

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